A Man of Decision Cannot be Stopped

Dear Stephen King,

I have been re-listening to my copy of "The Law of Success" by Napoleon Hill. One of the first points in this series of books is "The Man of Decision Cannot be Stopped, the Man of Indecision Cannot be Started." I have been thinking about this quote and I am trying to find ways to apply it to my own life.

Writing is one of those things that many people think about, but never do. I have met several people who say they are planning their "All American Novel". They have been planning it for decades. Some of them have binders of information about the world they are writing in and sketches about their characters, but they have yet to start writing the novel itself.

Two days ago I decided to take the initiative and publish a short story on the kindle store. I had been putting it off because I was afraid. I made three editing passes over it and believe it is as good as it is going to be without a proper editor, then I uploaded it and pressed the publish button. What I like about the kindle store is I can make changes to the story as people make comments about it, or I can just ignore them and leave it story alone.

I have also made a definite decision about this blog. I really enjoy writing to you. I know you are not reading this as of yet. Maybe as I write more and get better with my commentary, you might take notice and feel the inspiration to respond. That would be awesome. The point of this blog is to use you as a Mentor to bounce my writing thoughts and ideas off of. I am able to use you as someone to speak to.

The idea of this blog came from my goal on 43things.com to one day meet you. I didn't want to just stand in a line and wait to have you sign my copy of your latest book. I wanted to earn your respect and develop some sort of relationship that would lead to a meeting of meaning. What I decided to do to make that happen is to become an author (another goal I intend to achieve), someone you might be able to relate to. To help me become that author, I started this blog to focus myself on the craft, to give me a way to see all the things that might make my writing great.  

Needless to say, you are an inspiration to me, as to millions of other people all over the world. Now all I have to do is make myself stand out from the crowd. Until then you can always find me here writing to you.

Take care my friend,
Robert T Gasperson

Turning Short Stories into Novels

Dear Stephen King,

I am excited about the work I have been doing. I have been working on a series of short stories that will eventually come together to form a full length novel. There are several reasons I am doing this. First; I can't seem to finish writing a novel.

I have been able to get 40-50,000 words into a story and either get bored, or jump to another idea. These short stories will allow my short attention span to hang on long enough to get done with a short story before moving on to the next one.

The second reason I am doing this is to have something finished so I can post it on the amazon kindle store. I am writing each of the stories so they can stand alone if the need to. Then if the reader wants to know more about the story or the world, they can go read my other short stories. Also, If for some reason I decide to abandon the novel, the short stories can stand on their own.

I was wondering if you have done anything like this. I remember when you released "The Green Mile" as a 6 part serial. I loved it. I had a coworker who was reading it at the same time. Since we had to wait for each episode to come out, we could discuss the part we had just finished. Then we could talk about what we thought was going to happen next. I kept those paperbacks for a while, then when you released it as a Hardback, I bought it to go with my collection.

Sometimes I wonder if some of the Dark Tower series was written as short stories. Then assembled at a later date. Maybe you can let me know about that one day.

Have a great day,
Robert T Gasperson 

Brainstorming a Short Story

I have been trying a new way of outlining short stories. I wanted to see if it would make the process of writing any more efficient. The idea is simple. I find 7 points in the story I want to tell to get from the hook to the resolution. Each of these points are the beats and the movement of the story.

I then come up with seven points between each of those major beats. The idea is to decide how each of those beats will unfold. I try to keep the ideas to 7, but if need be, I can go longer.

So 7 beats times 7 points per beat means I will have 49 Steps in my story. If each of those steps are about 100-200 words each, then I will have a short story that is 5,000-10,000 words long. Not too shabby.

So Close to the Finish Line I Can Taste It

I am about a thousand words from the end of the short story I am writing, yet I don't want to sit down and finish writing it. I don't know what it is. It might be the fear of writing a bad ending. It might be the fear of having to send off the finished piece to see if I can get it published. It might be I don't want the story to end. Whatever the case, I still need to sit down and write the ending of this story.

Here is another problem that I come across when I am trying to finish a story. I find myself thinking about several other different projects I want to start instead of doing what I should be doing. I should be writing the end of my short story. Right now I am finding myself thinking about the month of November and what I want to write for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I need to think about what must be written. I need tho think about how I am going to force myself to sit and write till it is done. I think I am going to have to carve out 2 hours of time with an egg timer set and the will to sit there till the two hours are up or I finish my short story.

Hmmm....

I think I am going to go make a sandwich.

Trying to Understand the 7 Point Story Structure

I have heard about the "7 Point Story Structure" on several different podcasts now about writing. I thought I would take a few minutes and see if I could break into the idea and apply it to some of my future writing.

Where did it come from? I think the idea has become popular right now because of a series of YouTube Videos where Dan Wells, Author of "I am Not a Cereal Killer" teaches a class about Story Structure. Here is the fist of those videos. You can watch the rest when you have time:

According to him there are 7 Points you should visit when you are creating structure for a story. It could be for a short story, a novel, a roll playing game or anything else you might be able to come up with. Those points are: A Hook, Plot Turn 1, a Pinch, a Midpoint, another Pinch, Plot Turn 2 and a Resolution.

He says your story should start with some sort of Hook. You need to catch the imagination of the reader. You also have to be somewhere other than where your Resolution should be. What does that mean? You should know what your resolution should be before you start writing. Preferably you will want your hook to be the opposite of where your resolution will be. This will give your story something to strive for.

Dan also states that you should know what happens at the Midpoint of your story. This is where your characters learn something about the Resolution, and makes the decision to go towards the resolution. You have to know where the characters make that turn so you can figure out how they can get to the Resolution.

Next we have to get from the hook to the midpoint. To do this we need some kind of Call to Action. That will be the first plot point. There has to be something that gets the characters out of the hook.

Next you need a plot point that gets the characters from the midpoint to the Resolution. This is usually something that happens that gives the characters what they need to make the Resolution happen. They need that something otherwise they will loose or the point of the story will be lost.

Finally you need a pinch before and after the midpoint. The pinch is something that happens that puts pressure on the characters. Usually you want the pinch in front of the midpoint to show the characters just how bad things truly are. Then there needs to be a much bigger pinch after the midpoint. This is where the characters lose something or someone extremely important. They are beaten almost to death or they find they are completely surrounded with no way out. This is when the plot turn 2 comes in handy.

So I thought I would take the liberty to rename the points for my own benefit. Then I think I will use this system to help me plan out my next short story. Here they are:

1. Hook the Reader
2. Call to Action
3. Something Goes Wrong
4. Reveal the Answer
5. Everything Goes to Crap
6. Last Piece of the Puzzle 
7. Resolution